SALEM (AP) — Oregon state lawmakers on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a permanent offshore oil drilling ban as the Trump administration forges ahead with a plan that could open up the Pacific coast for petroleum exploration and extraction.

When the herring finally disappear, we’ll have only ourselves to blame.

SEATTLE—The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is taking a fresh look at whether new fishing restrictions are needed to help prevent the extinction of endangered southern resident killer whales that frequent Puget Sound.

Ocean conditions are improving for salmon entering the ocean this year, several years after The Blob, an unusually warm water event that began forming in 2014, scientists announced Friday.

“They are delicious when steamed open and dipped in hot butter,” according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. They’re also disappearing, according to scientists who've studied them from Alaska to California.

This is the first in a series of stories about the environment brought by the News Guard from Lincoln City, Oregon.

From rising sea levels and crop failures to dying forests and fish, Washington state is struggling